Repertoire of Resilience: Black Women’s Social Resistance to Suicide

Abstract African American women contend with multiple overlapping oppressions yet are less likely to commit suicide than other racial/gender groups. Most studies on Black women and suicide are quantitative and focus on the protective factors in their lives that act as buffers against suicide. While protective factors are a useful concept for understanding suicide protection, they address only moderators of risks for suicidal behavior instead of how people effectively cope with risks and stress (Werner 2000). More recently, researchers have begun studying resilience to suicide to ascertain how people cope and thrive in the face of adverse situations. We analyzed Black women’s social resilience to suicide. After analyzing 33 interviews with African American women, we found that they employ a repertoire of resilience that is made up of interrelated scripts that value Black women’s (1) shared experiences of struggle, (2) centuries of strength building, and (3) the counter-evaluation of privilege. We argue that by counter-framing marginalizing experiences of poverty, discrimination, and low social status, this cultural repertoire provides Black women with an empowering self-conceptualization that fosters their resistance to suicide.